Retirement a 2nd or 3rd chance at life

I was reading a book about retirement and the author said,"we don't die of old age, we die of retirement." One could make an argument the other way around, but let's go with it for a minute. Do we suffer from lack of purpose and the benefit of work? There is a certain security of a paycheck. My dad worked and died at work. Growing up through the depression and living poor left its mark on him. There are countless people who worked till the day they died. There has also been those who worked for less because of being old made them less productive.
Things happen so I am glad we can retire when we get older. But can we continue with purpose and value. In truth more of our time is taken up with health concerns and most seniors take an active role in the family care. But there will come a time when the aged are cared for.
More many of us years have been put into jobs with little payback or personal satisfaction. Work has value but some jobs can test that theory. Retirement can be a redo in something that interests us and something that can benefit others.
For me there is a passion to walk and share what walking has done for me. There is a passion to change the way I eat to live better. There is an offshoot passion about aging and rounding off the curve where more of my life is independent and I feel better. I am reading tons of stuff with the passion to share what I have learned to help others live well as we age.
Along the way I have a passion to understand mental illness and not be controlled by it. Related to this is abuse won't be who I am and I desire to help those caught up in the darkness of abuse. These new energies give a new way to look at retirement. Keep walk